


Comfort

by yikestozier



Category: IT - Stephen King
Genre: A lot - Freeform, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Pennywise (IT), M/M, Richie Tozier Has Tourettes, Richie Tozier Loves Stan Uris, Richie Tozier is a Mess, Richie Tozier-centric, Slow Burn, Slurs, Stanley Uris Has OCD - Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Support Group, Tourette's Syndrome, and fan edits, and stan just so happens to have ocd, basically stozier slow burn, but only bc richie has coprolalia, but richie just so happens to have tourettes, richie likes rom coms
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-23
Updated: 2019-11-11
Packaged: 2020-12-22 17:43:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21080534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yikestozier/pseuds/yikestozier
Summary: Richie Tozier was 6 years old when he first started getting his tics, yet he was 14 when he was diagnosed with Tourette’s syndrome, specifically coprolalia. Now at 16 he's given in to going to a support group because of his mother.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i did a lot of research because i didnt want to get anything wrong so yeah let me know if some stuff is wrong and i will change it as i am not an expert however it is fiction and some stuff needs to happen for the story to work... so yeah.

Richie Tozier was 6 years old when he first started getting his tics, yet he was 14 when finally diagnosed with Tourette’s syndrome, specifically  coprolalia. Now at 16 he's given in to going to a support group because of his mother. He's said multiple times that it would only make him feel more weird and alienated but he couldn't say no to his mother when she looked at him in that way she does. His family life definitely wasn't perfect, his parents didn't really understand him, but they were trying and he was forever grateful for that, which was another reason to why he finally gave in.

His mom shouted up the stairs making Richie groan and roll over in bed to look at his phone: 10 AM. He threw his phone back onto the table and tossed back over, no one should have to get up at such an ungodly hour during summer break. But then his mother was yelling at him to get up again and he knew she wouldn’t stop until he did. Rolling onto his back he yelled back a quick “WHAT?!” and waited for a response. Obviously, mom's being how they are, he didn't get a response. He called out again to no avail, forcing him to get up and walk downstairs.

Following the smell of eggs, he reached the kitchen, his mom tossing him a quick “My god, Richie, couldn't have at least put some pants on?” to which he said “It's just you and dad I don't see the problem.” in response and sat down. His mom gave him a plate, shortly followed by eggs and a container of syrup.

“What’s the occasion, you guys hate eggs.” he said pouring just a little bit more syrup than needed onto the eggs.

“Because it's your favorite and you have a big day ahead of you.” she winked.

Richie groaned, how could he forget his promise? His mother’s laugh was shortly followed by a joking “I'm starting to think groaning is a new tic.” to which he flipped her off and said “Don't jinx it I’m on a streak.” his father pipping with a quick “Let's see how long that will last…”. Not long after Richie barked and hit his head causing his dad to laugh, naturally causing Richie to flip him off as well.

“Hurry up now, Rich, I made sure to wake you up in time so you can shower but you know how you always take the longest showers.”

He never mentioned it but he was so glad his mother woke him up with time to shower in mind as it was one of the only times he could relax and feel normal. Tics can happen at any time but mostly when you're stressed, you can't be stressed when you're showering. If he had time to shower before the day, he was less likely to tic as much.

“And what time does it start?” he asked.

“Noon.”

“And what time is it now, be exact.”

She pulled out her phone, checking it, before responding. “10:37 on the dot.”

Richie hummed in response showing he understood, shoving the rest of his eggs down his throat, before going to hop into the shower. 

Before climbing in, he put his phone on full volume onto the counter, putting on his ‘music mix’ which was mainly just PUP, Catfish and the Bottlemen, and The Wombats. 

The feeling of the warm, verging on hot, water instantly soothed his tense muscles as his favorite song at the time - Guilt Trip by PUP - began to play. He started to hum along, soon breaking out into full-on singing. He absentmindedly began to scrub away chaotically at his body and hair so he could get it over with quickly and could relax the rest of the time. Music and showers we're the best things in the world to Richie, the only things that could calm him down.

Not long after he finished showering, the song changed. Going from Turn (The Wombats) to Emily by Catfish and the Bottlemen. He positioned the head of the shower at more of an angle, so that when he sat down the water would not be directly in his face, and sat down. The song itself wasn't necessarily sad or anything, but the vibe always got Richie feeling down, just a bit, despite it always being one of Richie’s favorites.

Humming along, he thought. That was it. If you asked him, showers we're only really good for thinking. He thought about everything: himself, his nonexistent friends, how he would be if he was different, no,  _ better _ . Then thinking went to crying.

Once getting himself together, he turned off the water and got out, the cool air instantly hitting his body, forcing out a tic: he rolled his eyes involuntarily 3 times. Sighing, he put a towel around his waist and one in his hair, before eventually opening the door and going up the stairs to his room.

Once in said room, he instantly looked at his phone, 11:20 AM, just enough time, he assumed, to get ready and make it there on time. 

His music, still playing, switched song. What had been Scorpion Hill by PUP quietly died out and Fallout by Catfish and the Bottlemen began. He started singing along as he half walked half danced to his closet, picking out his outfit for the day.

Quickly pulling out a random band tee and some random black jeans, he put them on thoughtlessly. His mom called up yet again as he was putting his shoes on, “something something, come on”, he couldn’t quite tell exactly what she had said from his music. Turning it down he called back down.

“What?!”

“You're gonna be late, come on!”

Richie looked at his phone, that much time couldn't have passed, could it? Well apparently so, he should have realized by how many songs he went through, it was now 11:42 AM.

He ran down the stairs, following his mom out the door and into the passenger side of the car. He sighed as the car began to move, looking out the window, preparing for the car ride that would only take around 20 minutes, yet feel like 10 years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is one of my favorite and in my opinion one of the best things I've written so far so im really glad everyone seems to like it so far !


	2. Chapter 2

Finally, they had arrived. Going for the door handle, his mom grabbed his closest hand, saying an affectionate “Arent you forgetting something?”. He sighed fondly and leaned over, kissing his mom on the cheek.

Climbing out, his mother tossed him a quick “See ya, try an have fun will ya?” as he stepped out of the car, replying with a quick “Yeah sure, see ya later ma.” not bothering to look back as he closed the door behind him and began to walk to the building.

Once walking through the door, Richie was instantly hit with sadness despite how happy they obviously tried to make it. He sighed and continued to walk until he reached the room he was supposed to be at, walking in.

The room’s light was much brighter than the slightly dim hallway and he had to squint to see. It was just like he had expected: a small group of chairs in a circle in the middle of the room. That was it. No tables or anything, just a small red rug in the center of the chairs. His eyes finally starting to adjust, he went to the last open seat.

The group was all fairly young, around Richie’s age he assumed, except for one man at the very front who seemed in his early 40s. He assumed this was the counselor host thingy, and his assumptions were soon proven as he began to speak.

“Now that we are all here, let's begin shall we?”

As soon as the words finished, before Richie knew it, he was repeating it. “Let's begin shall we?”. It was one of the weirder parts of Tourettes but thankfully a quite forgiving one given how the others are. The host gave him a weird look before continuing. 

“Let's begin with the classic ‘go around the circle and introduce ourselves’ icebreaker, you will say your name, what you are diagnosed with and one fun fact about you. I will go first; I am Dr. Davis, I’m a phycologist of course and I am not diagnosed with anything. We’ll go clockwise.”

Richie would be lying if he said he was paying attention to anyone but there was this one boy that caught his eye, only tuning in when the boy finally started to speak. 

“Hello, I'm Stanley Uris, I like birds and birdwatching, and I have obsessive-compulsive disorder, also known as OCD.”

Richie giggled a bit (‘“also known as”? Most people didn't know what it stood for, it's only known as OCD!’) causing the boy to glare at him, only piquing Richie’s interest more.

Not long after Stanley’s introduction, it was Richie’s turn.

“Howdy, names Richie n I’ve got Tourettes.” Richie looked to the boy before continuing, seeing a small hint of confusion flash across his face before going back to normal. Probably was wondering why he was acting so normal, probably was expecting depression or anxiety more than anything by the look of Richie. “And I like your mom.” 

He heard everyone - including what sounded like Dr. Davis - groan, but he only actually saw Stanley do it, he even rolled his eyes. He was so cute when annoyed. Richie forced himself to look away from the boy, he shouldn’t catch feelings for some boy he didn't even know, but god was he cute. His curls looked so soft, Richie had only ‘known’ the boy for a few minutes and yet, all he's ever wanted to do was run his hands through his hair. A new thing to calm him down.

A few minutes later everyone had had a turn to introduce themselves.

“Alright, now pick a partner,” Richie’s eyes instantly snapped to Stan. “go do something for at least 3 hours, get to know each other.”

Despite seeing Stan’s eyes searching for someone he wanted to partner up with, Richie _ ran _ up to his chair, forcing out a nervous “Hey!”, the nerves causing his right eye to involuntarily wink 3 times. Stan looked at him a bit weird, maybe thought Richie was hitting on him, but didn't mention it.

“You want to be _ my _ partner?”

The question was simple enough, but Richie knew this one decision could change his whole life. And he was hoping for a life with Stanley in it, in any way. The question was simple enough and yet Stan had said it in a ‘why would you want to be partners with me?” fashion.

“Uh yeah, is that ok with you?” Richie said. He said ‘okay’ and yet Stan could _ hear _ the misspelling of ‘ok’ on his tongue. ‘ _ His tongue.” _ he thought, as his eyes quickly flashed to his lips only for him to force them back up at the boys eyes.

“Uh yeah… sure.” he smiled causing Richie to smile as well.

Stan got up a bit shakily showing he was nervous, which made Richie feel good knowing he wasn't the only one, but nervous for what? After a bit of silence and mindless walking to the front door of the building, Stan surprisingly broke the silence.

“S-so I was thinking, if it's cool with you, of course, we could go to where I watch my birds. It's really beautiful and peaceful.”

Richie smiled sweetly at him. “I would love to.”

Stan smiled back before continuing out the door. Richie felt butterflies and he hadn’t known this boy for even a whole day. He made a note for a different day to stop falling for people so quick, but, _boy_, was it so _easy_.


	3. Chapter 3

The walk was quite far and Richie was beginning to wish he hadn’t failed his driver’s test. He looked at Stan.

“So, how much further?”

Stan looked back at him a bit apologetically. “A bit further, sorry.”

“Oh, sorry if I knew I would have passed my drivers test.” he laughed but instantly got worried by the look on stans face.

“No! This is  _ definitely _ for the better! I mean when you're in the car with me you go over one pothole and suddenly we’ve ran over a newborn and I need to get out to check it  _ immediately _ !”

He spoke quickly and gigged a bit but it was nervous and he was beginning to sweat a bit despite it being a cool day and the walk not being  _ that  _ bad. And then Richie remembered, he has OCD. Richie didn't know much about OCD but he had read about it a bit and knew the basics, which did include that information. He hummed in understanding.

“Yeah, sorry, I forgot about that…”

This time when he giggled, it was genuine.

“Forgot? Most people don't even know about it until I tell them.”

Richie smiled at him and Stan smiled back. It reminded Richie of dumb rom coms, the kind of look editors would slow down for ship edits.

Then next thing Richie knew, they were there and he was going to sit on the surprisingly soft grass, Stan joining him. 

Richie felt a tic coming. There was a powerful itch in his throat which told him that he was probably going to say something vulgar and inappropriate. Hed managed to not verbally tic the whole time, which meant it was probably going to be a really shitty one. Trying to stop it, he cleared his throat aggressively. Then again, and again, finally breaking out in a coughing fit trying to stop it, causing Stan to start patting him on the back and ask him if he was all right. He just met the first person hed consider his friend since he was 6, he couldn't lose him so soon! He prayed to the God he tried so hard to believe in to give him relief and spare him, just this once, but there was no stopping it. He jerked from Stan’s hand aggressively, hitting his head as he yelled “fucking fine faggot!”.

As soon as the relief came, regret soon followed. It wasn't like he could help it, but did Stan know that? Maybe he didn't know what Tourettes was and he just now thinks Richie is just a giant dick? He was terrified and tried to stutter out an apology, however, the stress of possibly losing his one and only friend only made more tics come. He probably looked like he was having a fucking seizure, his eyes we're blinking and twitching so much, which probably only made Stan think he's even weirder. Sighing and giving up, he sat back down. The dirt was suddenly more uncomfortable than he remembered and the grass tickled at his ankles.

Richie could faintly hear Stan scoot closer next to him, then he felt a small pressure on his hand. He barked twice, pulling his hand away to hit his chin involuntarily. He rubbed his neck and sighed, mumbling a small “Sorry…” as he slowly put his nervous hand back under Stans.

“Does it hurt? That seemed a bit painful…”

Richie laughed. “Oh you betcha, hurts like hell sometimes… The physical pain isn't the worst part though…”

For the first time in a while, Richie looked to Stan, shyly. Stan smiled softly at him. Richie gave a small smile in return before looking away and back down at his ankles, using his free hand to pick at the grass.

“Ya know…” he started softly, “I didn't mean it, what I said.”

Stan laughed, causing Richie to look back at him once more, his face reading ‘what’s so funny?’.

“I know what Tourettes is dumbass.”

Richie muttered a soft “Oh…”.

“So… You're not mad?”

Stan gave him a look that screamed ‘why would you think that’.

“No of course not. It's involuntary, why would I be mad at you for something you can't help or control?”

Hed assumed Stan knew nothing about Tourettes, which in hindsight was kind of mean and dumb of him, but he was nonetheless very glad that he knew and didn't hate Richie for it. He was also glad Stan didn't treat him different of pity him, not like he really could anyways as they both had their problems, wouldn’t make sense to pity someone who had it just as bad if not worse than you do.

Richie was broke out of his thoughts when he felt Stan's hand, still on top of his, curl around his hand to hold it properly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really glad everyone likes it so far it means a lot and I hope you all continue to enjoy it!! the first 3 parts were partially made before I even posted the first chapter because I jump around a lot so that's why these first 3 parts didn't take too long to be posted so now they might take a while just letting you know so yeah sorry://


	4. Chapter 4

Richie let out a soft sigh, content and comfortable; safe. He gripped right back to Stan’s hand, looking at him, then to the scenery once more. The scenery was lovely but Stan was _ beautiful _, all Richie wanted to do was stare at the boy. And so that's what he did. A few minutes of staring later and he was speaking.

“So, you wanna be my friend? Like outside of this sadass group therapy thing?”

Stan giggled, nodding his head up and down softly until speaking and changing Richie’s life right in front of his eyes:

“Yes.”

There was a small silence between them before Richie spoke again, but it wasn't awkward or painful, in fact, it was comfortable and electrifying. It was one of the best feelings Richie had ever felt.

“So, ya gotta number, so we can keep in touch?” Richie asked, kinda shyly. Stan deadpanned making Richie even more shy and nervous.

“No.”

“Oh…”

Then suddenly Stan broke out into laughter, his hand leaving Richies as he doubled over, rolling as he clutched his sides. Richie didn't quite get what was so funny but it was really cute and so infectious that he too soon broke out into giggles. Once stan and he finally calmed down enough to speak, Richie did, still fighting back laughter:

“What? What’s so funny?!” 

“Of course I have a number, you idiot! It's 2019 for fucks sake!”

And with that, they quickly broke out into a laughing fit once more, but this time, Richie grabbed onto Stan’s hand, causing them to stop laughing. He instantly felt calm, it was another perfect movie moment: Stan and Richie, hand in hand, laying down on the strangely soft grass and looking up at the blue blue sky in contrast to the bright green grass.

As the last of their laughter finally petered out completely, there was just the sound of birds, wind and the sounds of Stan and Richie’s heartbeats intertwining. Time went still. Richie wanted to stay in this moment with Stan for forever. Richie sighed as he closed his eyes, smiling, just feeling and hearing _ everything. _

But then suddenly, stan let go. He sat up shortly after Stan, a confused look on his face.

“Uh- you're good, yeah? I mean that was a bit weird and all sorry but, I don't know, you did it first is all-”

He was rambling. He was nervous as all hell, his eyes began twitching furiously in different patterns. What did Stan letting go of his hand mean? Did he regret taking Richie’s hand to begin with? What if he didn't even like boys? Richie didn't know if he really wanted to hear the answer to any of those questions. The previously amazing moment crashing down all at once as Stan turned to him, a melancholy look on his face.

Richie had only known Stanley for about 4 hours and yet his whole world was crashing down right in front of his eyes because of this one boy. 

“Richie, I think you should know that all of this is platonic, the hand holding and all. I do really want to be your friend and I even want to continue holding hands with you but… I don’t… like boys…”

Richie’s mouth was stuck in the position like he was saying “oh” but nothing was coming out. Despite his brain being broken, he had a quite good memory and used this to his advantage as he attempted to memorize everything about him: the way his hair curled, how his knees were pulled up and into his chest, his arms wrapped around them as he looked to his feet, how his face looked like he almost regretted having to say that. Finally, Richie spoke.

“Oh… I get that, that's okay, that's cool…” 

Stan stared at him, his eyebrow perking up slightly making Richie get nervous causing him to bark and hit himself on the chin as winked twice in a row. He began rambling again.

“I mean I do but it's okay that you don't, I mean I’m bi I get it women are amazing-” he giggled nervously a bit before continuing. “I hope you don't mind I’m bi or anything though but yeah I get it I mean even if you did like boys who would like _ me _ like _ that, _ ya know?”

Stan stopped him, placing a hand on his knee, making him jump slightly.

“Any man _ or _ woman would be lucky to have you, Richie. I’ve only known you for a few hours but I know you're an amazing person.”

Richie stared into his eyes a bit sadly, his eyes watering a bit. He looked into Stan’s eyes without blinking, like his life depended on it.

Then suddenly, for the second time that day, the moment was ruined. There was a faint chime from Stan’s phone, as he took it out, looking at his text.

“Hey, look I’ve got to go but here’s my number, text me.”

It was intended to be a statement but Richie could hear a slight question mark at the end of it. Stan produced a small notebook from his other back pocket of his shorts and ripped it out, handing it to Richie as he stood up and began walking away, turning back to wave and say bye as Richie did the same. Once out of sight, Richie looked at the paper Stan gave him, his heart fluttering as he read it. 

xxx xxx xxx

Text me ooo - stan


End file.
